


Am I Floating?

by MHmurderousHedgehog



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human/Troll Society, Angst, F/F, Fluff, Ghosts, M/M, Past Drug Use, Past Suicide, Post-Sburb/Sgrub, Slow Build, like really slow relationship build
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-26
Updated: 2016-03-26
Packaged: 2018-05-29 04:20:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6359074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MHmurderousHedgehog/pseuds/MHmurderousHedgehog
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(tw for suicide and self harm mentions probably and drug use. I'll add more as I keep writing this. I'll also add any characters in the tags. I didn't tag Rosemary because it's in the background (though i love it it might show up a bit more but i suck at writing them ahh)<br/>Dave overdosed. He's constantly /dead/ tired and his 'life' seems to have no point. When a troll named Karkat moves into the apartment where he died, he takes offense to the intrusion. He makes it his goal to make Karkat's life miserable via shitty pranks from the shadows. Maybe things will change as he gets to know the troll?</p>
<p>Based off Ghosting by Mother Mother you should really go listen to that song</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

A little over a month had passed since Dave died. He sat slumped in his old apartment’s closet with his few belongings cradled to his chest. It became a habit to take what he could when people left their stuff lying around in the apartment lobby. He managed to snag a few books (they weren’t his favorite, but reading them gave him something to do) and a gameboy that sadly lacked a charger and anything more than the same old Pokemon game he beat when he was younger. The thing didn’t even turn on, so he assumed it was out of battery. He still held on to the small device, it being one of the only things he could call his own anymore.

Right then, he was just holding his collection. There was a slight rocking in the way he sat. It helped calm him down, at least a little bit. He’d get in these moods where he wouldn’t want to move or feel or see or be anymore. He wasn’t supposed to still exist. He fucked that up already so he should just be gone. He shouldn’t have stood over his own body, just waiting there in confusion and fear. He shouldn’t have seen his brother finally bust into his apartment and discover his corpse. He shouldn’t have witnessed the pain on his face, or heard the shake in his voice when he called the police.

Dave swallowed and held his arms around himself a little tighter. The edges of a book pressed painfully into his chest. He wasn’t exactly sure how he could still feel that when he could phase through walls. Maybe pondering those types of thoughts would help him feel a little better. He still felt the unconscious inclination to breathe even when he didn’t have the need to. His lungs worked on their own. That was a good thing to focus on. Slow breaths, in and out. 

He choked on the next breath when he heard the apartment door swing open.

\----------------

Dave clutched his belongings securely before standing up on unstable legs. He pushed the closet door open just enough to peek through the crack with one red eye. He saw a troll, probably around his age, shuffling inside with great difficulty. He was holding a box that was nearly bigger than he was, and he could just barely see over the top. Dave tried not to be amused. Though, he did feel a little bad. It must've been nearly impossible for the guy to get that up the stairs with both elevators broken- totally not Dave's doing.

The troll kept the boxes coming, arranging them into neat stacks as he brought up more. Dave wasn’t sure how long he’d just been watching when he started unpacking them. He felt stupid for not realizing it before- the troll was moving in.

Dave waited until the troll was focused on digging through one of the boxes before slipping out of the closet with his belongings.He had just finished pushing them all under the bed when the troll turned around again, and, being the brilliant shit he was, tried to jump out of view because he forgot he was a ghost and wouldn’t be seen anyway. He tripped and fell backwards, arms reaching out to get a hold on anything. Dave felt his breath leave him as he phased through the troll. It was odd… warm, being so close to someone living. The troll shivered.

\----------------

The night was dark. Dave was used to the dim lighting during the day, and the opaque shadows of the later hours. Earlier that day, the lights had been on and he had to squeeze himself into the closet. Still, the light had managed to trickle in and light up the closet a bit. So the darkness seemed unfamiliar. Dave decided this was a good time to explore. Exiting the closet, he saw the troll as a lump in bed, moving up and down with rhythmic breaths. Naturally, he saw this as an opportunity to pull some ironic pranks, being a poltergeist and all. He started by tugging the blanket down. The warmth of the troll’s skin.. still felt weird to him. He found it irritating. Next, he unplugged the troll’s phone. Try surviving with 12% battery for the day. He also snagged the charger and threw it to the closet. Nice.


	2. Chapter Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> some dialogue wooo  
> i will forever worry that the next chapters won't live up to the previous ones i hope this is alright aah

The troll was loud in the morning. Maybe it was because his phone was dying fast, and from what Dave had picked up, he needed to get to work and then meet up with a friend. Whoever was on the other line seemed to blame… “Karkat’s” stupidity for not remembering where he left the charger, but this Karkat was sure he left his phone charging. Dave snickered. He was startled by the way Karkat seemed to hear him, ears twitching and glancing in confusion at the closet door.

Dave stayed quiet. They seemed to lock eyes for a second before Karkat was walking towards the closet with a look of confusion. He found the charger, in Dave’s lap, and when he picked it up, Dave felt that warmth again. Sickening. He found it sickening that he took comfort in the warmth, and he almost wanted to reach out again. Whatever. The phone yelled in the background from where Karkat set it on the bed, but the troll seemed to be focused with a puzzled look at the closet.

\--------------

Karkat was gone for a while. That gave Dave some time to mess around more. First, he phased through every floor down to the lobby, waiting for any unattended items. He found a stick up lipstick, some scrap paper, and a red pen. That would do.

Back in the apartment, Dave set to work. He scribbled on the bathroom mirror in lipstick “YOU SHOULDN’T HAVE COME HERE.” in scraggly lettering. He added a sbahj doodle in the corner for ironic appeal.

At first, he drew another comic with the pen on the scrap paper. It was just a quick comic where Sweet Bro lost his doritos and Hella Jeff blamed Geromy, but really, he had eaten them. Dave had shitty twists down to a perfection.

However, he decided since he's supposed to be a shitty ghost haunting a seemingly innocent yet grumpy troll, he should add some gruesome details. He simply opened the red pen and spilled the ink in various spots on the page, making it look like blood. He also let the ink drip onto the bedside table before disposing of the pen. Dave called it a day and went back to his closet.

\------------

Karkat was ready to call the police when he came home. He went into the bathroom to wash up, and the message left on his mirror made him shiver. Also, for some reason, there were shitty drawings…? As soon as he reached for his phone, he heard a whisper.

“Don't tell on me, bro. I was just having fun.”

Karkat span around, trying to find the intruder.

“Huh, you can hear me? I kinda assumed people wouldn't be able to.”

“Who the fuck are you and why are you in my house?!” Karkat stumbled backwards into the wall behind him.

“If I told you, you wouldn't believe me.” With that, Dave proceeded to wash off the lipstick on the mirror while Karkat watched in horror as it just seemed to disappear.

Dave almost felt bad. The troll was going pale from fear. He bit his lip in guilt.

“Okay, look, maybe you would believe me. Just.. don't freak out.”

Dave looked up for any sort of reaction but Karkat was frozen in fear.

“Er… first of all, sorry about the mirror and stuff. And your phone charger. I am a genuine and unironically rad ghost here to haunt you… or something. Because I died here and… I dunno, I didn't give it much thought. I just felt like I should stick here, since it is /my/ apartment and haunt whoever dares go here… or whatever.” Dave shrugged, forgetting he couldn't be seen.

“I'm fucking going insane…”

“Nah, the only insane thing here is how you totally made a weird face at my doodle on the mirror. I worked hard on that, dude.”

Karkat stood up straighter and bristled. “I cannot /believe/ you. Whatever the fuck you are, I'm not even sure if you're real, you're blaming /me/ for making a face at your shitty drawing?!”

Dave couldn't help it. He laughed into his hand. The troll seemed legitimately pissed about a sweet bro and hella jeff drawing. He never thought he'd see the day where his shitty-now-dead-webcomic would drive someone to actually think they were insane.

“Okay dude, you have a point there. My name’s Dave, by the way.” 

Dave stuck out his hand for a handshake. Surprisingly, Karkat recoiled, then tentatively reached out to shake his hand. So he could see him too now. Huh.

“I'm, uh. Karkat.”

“Cool. Do you mind if I keep crashing in the closet? It's kinda my home now. Also, do you happen to have a gameboy advance charger?”

“What.”

\------------

**Author's Note:**

> I will try to update this as much as possible! but i procrastinate a lot. Also, this is my second fic and first series so any and all criticism is welcome please :D


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